A payment card is a card that can be used by a cardholder to make a payment for purchase. Typically, a payment card is electronically linked to an account or accounts belonging to the cardholder. A number of payment cards are known, including credit cards and debit cards.
Credit card fraud is a wide-ranging term for theft and fraud committed using payment cards. One type of credit card fraud includes point-of-sale (POS) credit card fraud, in which a thief presents a stolen payment card while making a purchase at the merchant premises. In this type of fraud, the thief essentially impersonates the true owner of the payment card in order to obtain merchandise from the merchant.